From the moment I
entered the building, I knew the Girl Scouts were there. It didn’t take too
much effort to hear the giggles and excited chitchat coming from the end of the
hallway, and following the sounds of laughter and chatter, I was lead to
Exhibition Hall D. I was looking for the 2018 Cookie Rally, and if the giant
cardboard cookie boxes and green balloons were any indication, I had found it.

On January 20,
Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors from all over the Greater Atlanta area gathered
at the Cobb Galleria to learn all the best ways to sell Girl Scout cookies. But
why is selling cookies so important? I asked a troop leader that very question
as we waited to be admitted. “They learn great skills that can be applied to
any type of business, but it also just encourages them to work together and
learn to do something better,” she told me.

She and Senior
Girl Leadership Specialist Kathryn Schroeder are on the same page. According to
Schroeder, “Girls learn the five skills of the Girl Scout Cookie Program
through selling cookies: Goal Setting, Decision Making, Money Management,
People Skills, and Business Ethics.” The Cookie Rally is specifically designed
to teach girls each of these skills: “They get to practice things like going
door to door, running a booth, setting goals, and making change; they also
learn about the different cookies and what customers are looking for, so they
know how to help their customers going forward,” Schroeder says.

A series of
stations was set up for each level of Girl Scouts, teaching skills specific to
girls’ age range. I sat down with a Junior at her first station, Goal Setting,
where she was “writing down goals I want to achieve this year”, such as
“selling at least 200 boxes” and “earning more badges”. At the Brownie station
Say Thank You, girls wrote thank you cards to their customers because, as one
girl told me, “you have to be polite!”

At the Ask an
Expert station, three Seniors were answering questions and giving advice. One
expert had sold 1,000 boxes her first year! I asked them why they loved selling
cookies, and the unanimous answer was they loved everything it had taught them.
“I’ve learned how to talk to people, how to not be shy, and how to be confident
in myself,” one girl said. “You learn how to sell the cookies better each year;
if you don’t reach your goal, next year you can be smarter about your goal and
plan to reach that goal,” another added.

All in all, the
Cookie Rally was a huge success! Daisies, Brownies, and Juniors learned their
way around cookies, money, and people, and how to get the most out of the
Cookie Program. Registration for the 2019 event opens in October!

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About the Lime Green Giraffe

The Lime Green Giraffe is a by-girls for-girls online publication of the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta. We publish two annual issues in August and February in addition to more frequent coverage of special Girl Scout events. Our content focuses on Girls, Info, Reports, Activities, Fun, Friends, and Excitement.